Stories

When Brittany Madison Payne was in high school, her father told her she couldn’t date until she was a senior…..citizen.  Due to her father’s sense of humor, Brittany knew he wasn’t serious.  He also advised she should marry a man whose surname began with the letter W.  That way her initials would be BMW, like the automobile.  Little did he know she would one day marry Joe West. 

Brittany was always thin.  However, after her third child in just under three years, she gained a lot of weight and was never able to return to the body of her youth.  She was not pleased the time her parents came to visit and her father remarked BMW stood for Big Mamma West.  Joe and the children laughed.  Brittany seethed and was secretly angry about the comment.

When her father was on his death bed, which was only 2 short years later, Brittany realized the foolishness of harboring such feelings in her heart.  She let them go.  As they spoke one night, Brittany was reminded of how her father used to tell her and her siblings stories about his life.  She mentioned these special times and he smiled. 

“You and your brothers loved hearing stories probably more than when we would read you books.”

“Yeah.”

“I remember how you guys would laugh whenever I talked about times when I was very young.  I guess it was hard for you to believe I was once little like you were.  My family always told us stories.  They always meant a lot to me so I wanted to do the same for you.  I hope you are doing that with my grandbabies.”

“Not really but it is a good thing to start doing.  They aren’t too old yet.”

“Too old?  The baby is just getting out of her terrible 2’s and Jason is knocking on 6.  They are still babies.  They’d love to hear about you when you were little.  The kind of life Joe had?  I bet he has all kinds of stories for them.  Those little ones gotta know where they come from.  Tell em!  Tell em over and over.”

Brittany promised to do so.  Seven months after her father died, it would have been his birthday.  That night she made the kids lie in bed and told them she had a story to share.

“A long time ago, there was a little girl named Brittany Madison Payne and she was a skinny, happy little girl.”  The oldest child, who was lying next to the youngest, rolled onto his side to face her and the two of them giggled.  The other added his laughter.  Brittany smiled as she continued, “Her father, Marshall Payne, used to tell his children stories about their past.”  The middle child interrupted, “Where they true stories?”

“Of course.  When he put his children down to sleep, he would ask them what kind of story they wanted to hear.  He would make up stories on the spot if they were make believe.  Otherwise, the true stories were true and were very important.  That was so his children would know where they came from and it would help shape who they were. 

“When Brittany became a grown up and had little boys and a girl of her own, she decided she needed to start sharing stories with her children.  She realized she was Big Momma West.  She was big because her heart grew with each baby she had.  It had to grow since she had so much love to give to her children.  It filled her whole body.”